


Grass, Like Envy, is a Shade of Green

by brokenmimir



Series: Swan Queen Week Winter 2016 [6]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Swan Queen Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-15 14:31:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5788930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenmimir/pseuds/brokenmimir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Swan Queen Week Winter 2016, Prompt 6: Envy<br/>The only thing more annoying than her randomly assigned roommate's neat freak behavior is how much money she can afford to waste while Emma can't use the washing machines very often without blowing her budget.  The worst part is, Regina never seems to realize just how lucky she is.</p>
<p>And no matter what Mary Margaret says, leaving her half of the room a mess doesn't mean she's being passive aggressive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grass, Like Envy, is a Shade of Green

Emma adjusted the sheets one more time before taking a step back and looking around the room. She still couldn’t believe she’d gotten into college. In fact, she wasn’t only in college, but somehow she’d won a full scholarship for underprivileged youths to Storybrooke University, one of the top private schools in the country. Most people were paying Ivy League prices to attend, which was more money than her collective foster homes had probably spent to keep her since she was abandoned on the side of the highway.

As excited as Emma was, she was also nervous. Her threadbare second hand sheets were an ugly pink color she wouldn’t be caught dead with if she had the money to replace them. Her half filled closet had nothing but old and faded clothing. If the scholarship hadn’t provided her with a laptop, she wouldn’t have any electronics besides a beat up old alarm clock. She didn’t even have a cellphone.

Her roommate, however, was apparently not at Storybrooke on a scholarship. Her closet was packed with clothing from stores that probably wouldn’t let Emma inside, and more shoes than she’d ever owned in her life. In addition to her school model laptop, she also had a desktop computer, an iPad, an iPhone, a Kindle, and a variety of other electronics Emma didn’t recognize. She was glad her roommate had provided a refrigerator and television at least, although Emma had never seen a 4K TV before.

As Emma self consciously fluffed her pillow she bit her lip and glanced at the empty bed her roommate had apparently made, the corners done so perfectly you could use them as a ruler, and the wine colored sheets so soft you could swaddle a princess in them. Emma had arrived late, held up by a delay on the Greyhound, and she hadn’t actually seen ‘R. Mills’ yet. Emma only knew that much of her name because of the personalized stationary pad sitting on her desk next to her gold plated pen.

Emma was just about to fiddle with her things one more time when the door opened and her roommate stepped inside. The first thing Emma noticed was how beautiful she was. Emma had only seen people that looked that put together on television, and she suddenly felt even more awkward than usual as R. Mills’s eyes raked over her torn jeans, faded t-shirt, loose ponytail and lack of makeup.

The silence stretched, until finally Emma cleared her throat and gave her a shy smile that wasn’t returned. “Hey. I’m, um, Emma. Emma Swan. Your roommate.”

“Regina Mills,” she answered, and Emma couldn’t believe how sexy her voice was. It just wasn’t fair.

After a few more moments Regina moved over to her closet and pulled out silk pajamas, obviously intending to get ready for bed. The silence was painfully awkward, and eventually Emma cleared her throat. “So... we’re roommates now.”

“I gathered,” Regina drawled.

Emma flushed and looked down. She had to stop herself from nervously worrying at a hole in her sheet. If she damaged it further she’d be stuck without for who knew how long.

“Right,” Emma mumbled. Regina went into the bathroom, and came out thirty minutes later ready for bed. Emma took about three minutes getting ready before dropping her jeans, leaving her in boy shorts, and climbing into bed wearing those and her t-shirt. “Goodnight.”

Regina didn’t answer.

 

* * *

 

“She’s a nightmare,” Emma grumbled.

“I’m sure she’s not that bad,” Mary Margaret said reassuringly. She had been the first friend Emma had made on campus. Emma had been running late to class after the strap on her backpack finally gave up the ghost, causing her to drop it and spill her used textbooks everywhere. Mary Margaret had immediately dived in to help, and when she discovered they had the same class they sat next to each other.

“Look,” Emma said, walking over to her roommate’s half of the room. “I’m pretty sure she makes her bed with a laser level. Armies don’t do it this neatly.”

“So she’s neat,” Mary Margaret said. “You could probably learn something from that.”

Emma blushed a little, glancing at the pile of books and clothes that sat on the floor in her half of the room. Regina had been less than pleased about them. “Yeah, well... the most she’s said to me was when she came back from class and laid into me about my pants being on the floor. That’s when I started just letting all of my crap sit where it falls.”

“Oh, Emma,” Mary Margaret sighed. “You’re being very passive aggressive, you know.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Whatever. All she does is look down her nose at me just because I don’t keep everything as neat and fancy as she does. She’s a nightmare.”

Before Mary Margaret could say anything else the door opened and Regina stood in the doorway. Regina looked at them blankly for a moment before walking over to her desk. Standing behind her was a tall woman with long blonde hair wearing a hat. “What a dump,” she said, wrinkling her nose at the room.

“Who the hell are you?” Emma asked.

“Lovely,” she answered. “This must be the delightful roommate you told me about. Emma, was it?”

“Yeah,” Emma said. “You still haven’t answered my question.”

“Well spotted,” she said. “You must be here on some kind of scholarship with that kind of attention to detail. From the looks of things you certainly can’t afford to attend Storybrooke otherwise.”

“Mal...” Regina started, speaking for the first time.

‘Mal’ rolled her eyes. “I’m saying what we’re all thinking. If my clothing looked like the Salvation Army wouldn’t take them I certainly wouldn’t be leaving them everywhere for people to see. Now come on, we’re running late.”

Regina just shook her head and finished gathering her things. She left without saying a word, not even looking in Emma’s direction.

“What a bitch,” Mary Margaret said when they were gone.

 

* * *

 

“So you’re Regina’s roommate,” another blonde said. “My name’s Kathryn.”

“Hey,” Emma said awkwardly, waving at her. She couldn’t get over just how much gold jewelry the woman was wearing. All of the pieces were very nice and subtle, but when you move past ten items you leave understated behind. “I’m Emma.”

“Nice to meet you,” Kathryn said. “Some people never mention you. Unless they’re complaining about how messy you leave the room.”

Emma rolled her eyes. It really wasn’t that bad. Sure, a few more items had ended up on her half of the floor, but she didn’t leave anything that would attract bugs or cause a fire hazard. Regina really needed to get over herself.

“Want to come out to dinner with us?” Kathryn asked.

“Really?” Emma asked, glancing at Regina who pretended to ignore what was happening as she selected another outfit to change into. Emma wasn’t sure why Regina was changing – she looked as gorgeous as ever.

“Yeah, we’re going to this cute little french place just off campus,” Kathryn said. “ _La Ratatouille._ ”

Emma’s smile froze stillborn on her face. “Sorry. I’ve got a lot of homework to do.”

“Are you sure?” Kathryn asked. “It’ll be fun.”

Emma shook her head. “No thanks.”

The truth was, Emma wanted to go. Kathryn actually seemed nice, and while Emma had become close friends with Mary Margaret, David, and Ruby during her first month at college, she still had trouble meeting people.

Emma had heard of the restaurant though, and there was no way she could afford it. The lunch special cost more than she had to spend for a month, and she was sure that dinner would be even more expensive. She couldn’t afford to eat there if her life depended on it.

It was things like that that really infuriated Emma about her roommate. Emma ate cafeteria food three meals a day, while Regina apparently never touched the stuff. Every meal was out with friends, or brought back in fancy take out containers from top notch restaurants every night.

Regina didn’t have to worry about losing her scholarship and ending up on the streets. She’d never had to be afraid of where her next meal would come from. She didn’t have to bundle up every piece of clothing she had to stay warm, or carefully schedule how many days clothing could go before spending money laundering it. She didn’t have third hand text books and no cell phone.

Regina had everything, and she never seemed to appreciate it. She only seemed to eat tiny salads and health drinks. She had so many electronic gadgets sitting in the room collecting dust. She could afford to go out and anything she wanted, but the only thing they had in common seemed to be spending their free time studying. Emma wanted to be impressed by her dedication, but all she could think was that if Regina flunked she’d be right back the next semester on mommy and daddy’s money, while if Emma didn’t keep a 3.5 or better GPA she’d get tossed out like yesterday’s garbage.

 

* * *

 

Emma had the bad luck of having an exam scheduled for the last possible day, and so she had to trudge back to her dorm through the thick snow tired but relieved for it to be done. She wouldn’t know her final grades for a week, but she’d worked herself ragged studying all semester. If she didn’t get a 3.5 GPA then she _couldn’t_ get a 3.5 GPA, so there wasn’t much point in worrying about it.

When she reached the dorm she sighed in relief to see her roommate absent. She and Regina still never really talked, and over the past few days she’d been hassling Emma more and more to clean up the room. With a smirk she dropped her wet clothes on the floor and headed to the bathroom to take a long, hot, cleansing shower.

She had just climbed out, visions of having the room to herself all Christmas break dancing in her head when she heard the dorm room’s door open. Not wanting to get into a fight with Regina she rolled her eyes and tried to dry off as quietly as possible.

“What a mess,” an older woman said. “I thought I taught you better than this, dear.”

“O-of course, mother,” Regina stuttered. “I keep my side of the room neat. It’s just my roommate.”

Regina’s mother sniffed disdainfully. “And you let her get away with that? I didn’t raise you to be weak, Regina.”

“No mother,” Regina answered. “Of course not mother. She normally keeps things neat. It’s just... it’s just the end of the semester. She’s been busy studying. She works hard, mother.”

“No doubt,” her mother said. “I looked up this Miss Swan. She’s here on a _special_ scholarship. I’m not sure why they even let _her kind_ into Storybrooke.”

“She’s fine, mother,” Regina said. “She hasn’t caused any problems.”

“Still, my darling girl shouldn’t have to put up with someone like that.”

“Room assignments for freshman year are random, mother,” Regina said. “It’s fine.”

“I know someone on the board of governors,” she said. “I can have her scholarship revoked. It wouldn’t take much effort...”

“No!” Regina yelped. “She works hard for her grades. You don’t need to do that mother. She’s a good roommate. Really.”

“You aren’t... too close to her, are you dear?” her mother asked suspiciously. “After I was forced to fire that girl you kept mooning over at the stables I thought you got over that phase of yours.”

“O-of course not mother,” Regina squeaked. “I’m not... I’m not _that way_. Really, I’m not. I don’t even talk to my roommate, really. We’re just are roommates. I’m not interested in girls anymore, mother. It was just a phase. Really.”

“Then why aren’t you dating anyone, dear?” she asked. “Other than that weight you’ve put on. I know they talk about the freshman fifteen, but you really should watch what you eat. I know the senator’s boy, Robin, was interested in you. Maybe if you lose a little weight you’d be able to attract his eye.”

“I’m sorry mother,” Regina said. “I’ve tried to be careful with my weight. I’ll eat less...”

“Hmm,” she hummed. “When you do you need to try to find a man. I asked Mal and she said you haven’t even tried dating anyone.”

“I’ve been studying, mother,” Regina said. “I need to do well in classes if I want to get into law school. You want me to go into politics, right mother? I can’t if I don’t study.”

“I suppose,” she said. “Still, make sure you find the right sort of man to marry. This university is full of people with good connections and plenty of wealth. When you lose some weight I’m sure you can find someone willing to marry you.”

“Yes, mother,” Regina said.

“Well, I suppose it’s time to go, then,” her mother said. “Give your mother a hug, dear.”

“Go?” Regina asked. “It won’t take long for me to get packed...”

“That won’t be necessary,” she said. “You need to make sure this room gets cleaned up, anyway. And besides, I think missing Christmas dinner would be good for your waistline.”

“But I was hoping to see father...” Regina said.

“You should’ve thought of that before being a disappointment, dear.”

“Yes, mother,” Regina said, her voice trembling.

“Now, Regina, don’t cry,” she cooed. “I’ve told you, crying is a weakness, and I didn’t raise you to be weak.”

“Yes, mother,” Regina said.

A few moments later Emma heard the door close, and not long after that nearly silent sobs filled the other room. She slowly opened the door and peered out, her heart in her throat at the sight of a shaking Regina trying to muffle her tears with her pillow.

Slowly Emma approached her bed and sat down beside her. Regina looked up at her, eyes filled with shame and shock, but Emma simply wrapped her arms around the girl. Regina didn’t seem to know what to do with a hug for a long moment, until she collapsed weeping against Emma’s shoulder.

It took a long time for Regina to cry herself out, and when she did Emma began to shamefully clean the room. What had started as a passive aggressive way to get back at Regina left her feeling sick to her stomach, and before long the room looked better than it had since she’d moved in. She bit her lip in thought, and then carefully dug out the Christmas lights she had stashed away in the bottom of her bag, something she’d stolen from a long ago foster family but had never put up.

She was just finishing hanging them up when Regina’s voice interrupted her. “What are you doing?”

Emma smiled at her. “Just decorating the room. Since we’re going to have Christmas together, I thought we could make it a good one.”

Regina gave her a tiny smile, and Emma beamed back at her. They still didn’t talk much that evening, but Emma kept her half of the room clean, and she smiled at her roommate the next day when she came back from lunch to find a tiny Christmas tree in the window.

Maybe, she thought, Regina wasn’t such a terrible roommate after all.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Ever since I watched Carmilla I've been a big fan of the odd couple college roommate dynamic, so it was fun to write this.


End file.
